Saturday, 30 June 2012

If you are in the Austrian capital this summer, make sure you see the Klimt exhibition at the Leopold Museum. As well as some lovely paintings (landscapes and figurative work including the fabulous gold knight) and many of his personal effects, it has over 400 postcards written to his girlfriend in his scribbly script. Some are domestic and everyday, others are genius. I wonder what the equivalent will be today - I can't see 400 emails being printed out exhibited a hundred years hence, but by then perhaps everything will be on line, searchable and infinitely available and the art gallery and museum quaint curiosities inhabited by strange beings who actually want to go out into the physical world.

The museum houses the largest collection of Schiele's work too. Many of the paintings were totally new to me and if you like his style, they are brilliant. He produced an incredibly large body of work for someone who died aged 28. Plus unlike in the Klimt I was able to take some shots - enjoy the mourning woman, nude, self-portrait and washing line.

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Rosie's long awaited pamphlet from Smith Doorstop is out now and is well worth five of your good British pounds.

She is the mistress of the brilliant title (A weekend alone in Paris makes no difference at all, I want to think you'll make a neat job of confiscating my heart, 2 out of 12 organic eggs are cracked - to name but three) and has a wicked sense of humour and irony. Her close observation of our emotional lives is a joy.

Monday, 25 June 2012

A new poem of mine, On paying attention,is published in the current edition of The Interpreter's House and will be included in my forthcoming book Cape Town. Please buy a copy of this lovely magazine here: http://www.interpretershouse.org.uk/?page_id=13 if you would like to read it before the autumn. There are many other fine poets in the magazine too.

Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Sunday (last) and the museums are free. So, it would be remiss to fail to take advantage of such an offer.

The Musee du Quai de Branly sits on the left bank near the Effiel Tower. It houses the most wondeful collection of ethnographic works from four continents, arranged by geography and theme. The building itself and the lovely garden is worth the trip alone (bar the piped birdsong - why?).

Imagine if you had to redesign the Pitts Rivers Museum in Oxford for the 21st century and this might be what you'd come up with.

The current and very scary Shamanic exhibition is good value too if you're into voodoo altars, skulls, feathers and fetishes of all kinds. Gothic run riot around the world.

My personal favourites were the Australian aboriginal paintings and Amazonian feather head dresses, but there's too much to choose from really.